No doubt you've heard or read the story by now. Drudge ran it, and so Fox (and all of the Rightwing sycophants that suck off their teets) dutifully repeated Drudge's twisted and wholly misleading interpretation.

The desperate and gullible on the Right all dutifully repeated it out in the blogosphere and on Fox News. But of course, if anybody actually reads the memo in question (linked above), they'd see not just the absurd claim Drudge is making, but also the validity of the memo they are choosing to disparage as some form of "proof" that ABC News is biased.

The passage in the memo that Drudge characterizes as "BOTH SIDES NOT 'EQUALLY ACCOUNTABLE'":

We have a responsibility to hold both sides accountable to the public interest, but that doesn't mean we reflexively and artificially hold both sides "equally" accountable when the facts don't warrant that.

...So in other words, the words "we have a responsibility to hold both sides accountable" means "BOTH SIDES NOT 'EQUALLY ACCOUNTABLE'" in Wingnut World 2004.

Drudge's purposeful mischaracterization aside, what ABC News Political Director Mark Halperin seems to be writing about, if this memo is real, is something I've been pondering and hoped to touch on for some time here.

The fact is, the Right has got the supposedly "Liberal" Media so frightened and in their pocket, that they've lost all understanding of what "fair and balance" actually means!

An example; Let's say one candidate in a debate (Bush or Cheney for example) gives incorrect information 15 times in one of the debates. And in that same debate, the other candidate (Kerry or Edwards for example) give incorrect information 2 times.

What does the lamestream media report in their post-debate "Fact Check" segments? "Both candidates distorted some facts in last night's debate". And then they go about showing two examples of Bush/Cheney doing it and two examples of Kerry/Edwards doing it. Never mind that Bush/Cheney was wrong some 15 times versus Kerry/Edwards' 2 times. The wingnuts would cry "Media Bias!!!" if the media didn't equalize the rather unequal situation by showing 2 errors each.

That's precisely what's been happening since the debates began if not well before. After the first Presidential debate, for instance, Fox reported on some of Bush's questionable claims (alright, lies) about the situation in Iraq. He repeated demonstrably fallacious information on many many occassions. Fox reported one or two of those, and then reported the one or two times that Kerry misspoke (when he identified the KGB headquarters in "Treblinka Square" instead Lubyanka Square, or referred to the $200 Billion appropriated for the War by Congress as inaccurate because only $120 Billion of that has so far been spent.)

Those "errors" were reported as if they were equal, with both candidates being incorrect at some points in the debate. That sort of reporting paints an egregiously inaccurate assessment of the event.

Halperin's memo was right on the money as far as I'm concerned. Two inequal candidates do not deserve to be covered "equally". But the media has become so frightened of it's own shadow, that they are serving as equalizers for Bush/Cheney when Bush/Cheney deserves nothing of the kind from any sober and unbiased assessment of the facts and the way these campaigns are being run.

Sadly however, the media has boxed themselves in by running scared for years now. To the point where they won't likely even be able to rebuff Drudge's gross misinterpretation of Halperin's memo ("BOTH SIDES NOT 'EQUALLY ACCOUNTABLE'"??) effectively. I suppose that's where those of us with any sense of fairness and honesty and reason have to step in. Unfortunately, there's not all that many of us left with a voice that can be heard over the brilliantly orchestrated din of lies from the Right.

UPDATE: To give you an idea of the breathless coverage the wingnuts are giving to this non-story (apparently they only bothered to read the headline, not the actual memo). Look no further than this from the rightwing blog Power Line...

man o man, we gotta unite all of us dissatisfied democrats who are outraged about the media and their continued desire to bamboozal the public because were not supposed to think for ourselves. I feel exactly like this, like Chris Mathews has picked up all my neighbors by the collar very angrily and shook them while scream spitting "George is the annoited one and dont forget it."

Lets ban together and pick for example a company that adveritses heavily a particular show, or bombard a specific pundit/commentator.

All I have to say is consider the source. Good God, it is drudge afterall.....he is not right in the head....I think it is the whole bunch of them.....drudge is a homo and a lier on top of that...what can anyone say to something that is blatently a lie. We can not treat the bushies like intellegent people cause they are not. All they are is what they are. They have defined themselves, not anyone else....Kerry has yet to define himself as Prez cause he has not been prez...We need to just change course and see if Kerry can do any better. The ignorance of the republicans, expecially in this election, is so dumb. All of them.....I always have felt, one does not argue with ignorance. That would just show your ignorance to do so. Drudge is not one who has his ducks all in a row if you know what I mean.....They are all getting scared.......

The memo also makes it clear that ABC news is being deluged with right-wing emails whenever it criticizes Bush. The memo's purpose, I think, is also to clarify to reporters that management is aware of this pressure and make sure its reporters know that management will back up their reporting - which is what news managers are supposed to do.

All of us have to commit to do three things -
1. Complain to media about their right wing bias
2. Complain to commercial sponsors of shows exhibiting right wing bias
3. Thank media who are fair and willing to talk truth.
If we don't do this constantly and do it in great numbers the right will eventually have their fascist wet dream come true.

I am shocked that despite most of the polls showing Kerry winning the 2 debates by a landslide, that the MSNBC "debate experts" and the other news stations "experts" are saying that either "there was no clear winner" or "it was a tie". That's what the loser of a fight would say. And Jennifer is right. We, as liberals, have to fight fire with fire. If we don't call these right-wing bastards out for there lies and misconceptions, they will win everytime.

Hmmm, the kerry campaign originally called the second debate a draw, and the Bush campaign called it a victory. The polls on who won the debates are obviously lacking in credibility, as is this ridiculous website. ABC and CBS will continue to root for Kerry, and you morons will continue to listen to them. If Kerry wins, I'm sure you will all enjoy paying for the health care of every wellfare mother and illegal alien while kerry is paying a 12 percent tax rate. Imagaine that, a billionaire paying 12 percent. What percent do you pay?